Blue Mountains City Council – Dogs in Public Spaces Strategy Review
Client:
Blue Mountains City Council
Project Overview:
Blue Mountains City Council engaged Captivate Consulting to lead community engagement for the review of its Dogs in Public Spaces Strategy. The project sought to balance the diverse needs of dog owners, non-dog owners, and recreational users while shaping the future management of dogs across on-leash and off-leash areas, including parks, reserves, sportsgrounds and other shared public spaces.
Using a combination of broad community engagement and deliberative participation, the project explored local experiences, tested community priorities, and informed practical, evidence-based recommendations for the revised Strategy.
Objective
The project aimed to gather meaningful community input to support the development of an updated Dogs in Public Spaces Strategy that reflects local needs, addresses emerging issues, and provides a balanced approach to managing shared public spaces.
Our Role:
Captivate Consulting designed and delivered a multi-stage engagement program that combined accessible community participation with more in-depth deliberative engagement. Our role included:
- Designing and facilitating community pop-ups across the Blue Mountains
- Delivering in-person and online community workshops
- Facilitating two deliberative forums to explore complex issues and test potential solutions
- Analysing feedback from multiple engagement activities
- Preparing the Community Engagement Outcomes Report and strategic recommendations
- Developing the revised Dogs in Public Spaces Strategy
Challenges:
Managing dogs in public spaces is a complex issue with competing community expectations. The project required balancing recreation, public safety, environmental protection and responsible dog ownership across a geographically diverse local government area.
Community discussions covered issues such as off-leash access, shared use of sporting fields and trails, wildlife protection, compliance, and user behaviour. Our role was to create opportunities for respectful, informed conversations that moved beyond individual viewpoints to explore practical solutions and shared outcomes.
Outcome:
The engagement program reached hundreds of community members through a mix of face-to-face, online and deliberative engagement, providing Council with a strong evidence base for the revised Strategy.
Key insights included:
- Support for accessible and well-designed off-leash areas.
- Recognition that different parks and reserves require different management approaches.
- A strong desire for improved signage, education and communication.
- Ongoing concerns about responsible dog ownership, safety and compliance.
- Support for place-based solutions that respond to the unique characteristics of individual locations.
The project demonstrated that many of the community’s concerns could be addressed through improved design, communication and management, rather than policy changes alone. These findings informed a series of practical recommendations that will guide Council’s future approach to managing dogs in public spaces across the Blue Mountains.
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